Tomorrow I will be 37 weeks and 5 days along with Miss Ella, exactly the length of my pregnancy with Preston. My water broke in the middle of the night with him so every night this week when I go to sleep I think "Will it happen tonight?!?"
I did not experience any Braxton Hicks contractions with Preston or any false labor but this pregnancy has been totally different in that regard. I have contractions all the time and have been for the last month or so. I'm nervous that I won't be able to tell the difference if the real ones come along without my water breaking. Mom assures me I will :)
Blake is getting anxious and calling me all day to make sure everything is okay. He is ready for baby girl to be here. I am definitely ready to meet this sweetie pie but I still have some nesting to finish! For example, I have been working on curtains for her room and finished one panel yesterday but still have one to go. Let's cross our fingers I can get it done during naptime today. I did manage to finish appliqueing/monogramming a Big Bro shirt for Preston so that's one more thing checked off the list.
Ella's room still has some tweaking to be done and more things put up on the walls but if I can't get it all done IT WILL BE OKAY, or that's what I keeping trying to tell myself when I start hyperventilating about it.
I have nice goals each day of getting certain things accomplished and sometimes I get them done and sometimes I just can't do it. I am definitely at the very uncomfortable point in pregnancy and physically I just wimp out easily. Between the bulging abdomen, contractions, and constant pressure, it gets a little tough. Oh yeah, I can't really breathe anymore either. You don't want to see me after a walk up a flight of stairs. And when did the nausea decide to make a reappearance? Well, it never really left me completely but it has stepped up a notch these last few weeks. I am also battling the fat foot again. I had one ankle/foot swell with Preston and it's back! I think it's worse that it's only one foot because you can see the obvious difference in my normal one. The doctor says it's just the way the baby is laying. It's not painful but kind of annoying and definitely not cute. I really am ready to feel like a normal person again. Can you tell? Don't get me wrong. I love being able to carry a child in my tummy and feel these kicks and movements. There is nothing like it in this world and I am so thankful for it. And the love I have for my children is unexplainable. They are worth every minute of discomfort. I guess being at the end of my pregnancy I'm just ready to meet this precious baby and get myself normal again and start our family of four :)
I went to the doctor this past Friday (today is Wed) and I was 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced (thinned out). I go back tomorrow for another check-up so we will see if I have progressed anymore!
I can't believe she could be here any day. I'm trying to snuggle with Preston and soak up these last few days with him as my only child. I pray he adjusts well to his new baby sister and honestly, I really think he will. I just know the first few days and weeks will be the most trying for him so please say a prayer that all goes well!
And speaking of going well, I would appreciate prayers for labor and delivery to go smoothly too. I am so nervous! My epidural wore off with Preston so I basically had him naturally and the thought of doing it that way again REALLY freaks me out. I know women have done it since the beginning of time but it was not a fun experience. But, hopefully everything will go okay this time and I pray that God will keep his hand over us no matter what happens.
My sis-in-law took some maternity pictures on Sunday for me so I'm sharing a few of my favorites. Can't wait to meet our little Ella!
Okay, I am off to finish curtains now.
